Vintage Crockery Hire For Sydney High Teas
Vintage Crockery Hire, Made Beautifully Simple
Creating a gorgeous high tea table shouldn’t require months of collecting china, three cupboards of teapots and a last minute panic about whether you’ve remembered the sugar cubes.
20+ years creating high tea celebrations across Sydney · Genuine vintage crockery, thoughtfully curated · DIY, delivery and professional setup options
Not Sure Where to Start? Start Here
You already know you want the table to look gorgeous. The slightly trickier question is how much of it you’d like to organise yourself. Some hosts want a complete collection they can collect, style and proudly claim as their own handiwork. Others have absolutely no desire to spend the morning arranging cups and saucers. And some already have most of the table sorted and genuinely just need a few missing pieces. There isn’t one right way to hire vintage crockery. There is, however, an easier way to work out which option suits you.
Recommended
DIY High Tea Packages
Best for: self catering hosts happy to set up their high tea table themselves
- A complete high tea crockery solution
- Curated vintage pieces
- Easier guest number planning
- The freedom to style the table yourself
- Fewer individual hire decisions
High Tea Set Up Package
Best for: self catering hosts who want the beautiful crockery without setting up themselves
- Vintage crockery supplied
- Delivery within 20kms of 2076
- Professional table setup
- Pack down and washing
- No catering required
Tableware Hire
Best for: sit down lunches, dinners and beautifully styled weddings
Not every table needs teacups and tiered stands. If you’re planning a lunch, dinner, wedding reception or another seated meal, our vintage tableware hire options are designed around a more traditional place setting, with coordinated plates, cutlery, glassware and table pieces available according to your selected package
Individual Crockery Hire
Best for: when you already know what’s missing
Got the plates but need teacups? Borrowed family china but don’t quite have enough for everyone? Need cake stands, teapots, cutlery or glassware to fill the gaps? Individual hire allows you to select particular pieces without booking a complete package. A minimum hire spend of $200 applies
The easiest rule of thumb: Setting an entire high tea table? Start with a package. Filling gaps in a table you’ve already planned? Individual hire usually makes more sense.
A Beautiful High Tea Table, Minus the Guesswork
You can absolutely build a high tea table one piece at a time. Teacups, plates, cake forks, high tea stands, teapots, milk jugs, sugar bowls, champagne flutes…Then pray to the high tea Gods you haven’t missed anything important on the list you made at 11pm the night before.
Or you can start with a high tea collection that’s been thoughtfully curated for your high tea.
Easier quantities
A high tea isn’t simply one cup, one saucer and one plate per person. There are individual place settings and shared pieces such as cake stands, teapots and serving plates. A package brings those different needs together without expecting you to calculate every category from scratch.
Feels considered
Vintage doesn’t have to mean random. A beautifully styled vintage table can be colourful, eclectic and full of personality while still feeling as though everything belongs together. Our package collections are designed to create a cohesive overall look.
Fewer things to remember
Everyone remembers the teacups. The supporting cast is rather easier to overlook – cake forks, tea service pieces, milk jugs, sugar bowls, serving plates, high tea stands. Packages reduce the number of separate decisions you need to make.
Still your own
Choosing a package doesn’t mean your table has to look exactly like everybody else’s. Flowers, linens, colour, food, signage, stationery and all the little personal details still make the celebration unmistakably yours. We’ve simply taken care of the crockery foundation.
Compare Our DIY High Tea Packages
The Vintage Kitchen offers three DIY High Tea crockery hire collections, giving you different ways to create a complete high tea table without hiring every piece individually.
Carnaby Street
$11pp
Min 20 guests
- 1x teacup
- 1x cake plate
- 1x teaspoon
- 1x cake fork
- 1x teapot per 6 guests
- 1x creamer per 10 guests
- 1x sugar bowl per 10 guests
- 1x high tea stand per 5 guests
- 1x jam/cream bowl set per 10 guests
- Pick up from Normanhurst
- Delivery may be quoted for hires over $500
Most Popular
Portobello Road
$16pp
Min 20 guests
- 1x teacup
- 1x cake plate
- 1x teaspoon
- 1x cake fork
- 1x teapot per 6 guests
- 1x creamer per 10 guests
- 1x sugar bowl per 10 guests
- 1x high tea stand per 5 guests
- 1x jam/cream bowl set per 10 guests
- 1x crystal cut tumbler
- 1x crystal cut flute
- 1x drink dispenser per 20 guests
- Pick up from Normanhurst
- Delivery may be quoted for hires over $500
Kings Road
$22pp
Min 20 guests
- 1x teacup
- 1x cake plate
- 1x teaspoon
- 1x cake fork
- 1x teapot per 6 guests
- 1x creamer per 10 guests
- 1x sugar bowl per 10 guests
- 1x high tea stand per 5 guests
- 1x jam/cream bowl set per 10 guests
- 1x crystal cut tumbler
- 1x crystal cut flute
- 1x drink dispenser per 20 guests
- 1x sandwich plate per 5 guests
- 1x vintage serving tongs per stand
- 1x vintage champagne bucket per 10 guests
- assorted crystal cut bud vases
- Pick up from Normanhurst
- Delivery may be quoted for hires over $500
We’ve already thought about the table
This is usually the point where people realise a high tea involves rather more than cups and cake stands. Don’t panic. It doesn’t necessarily mean you need more things. It means the right pieces need to be doing the right jobs. After more than 20 years spent around high tea tables, this is how we think about it…
Start With the Place Settings
First consider what each guest needs individually. Depending on your table and event style, this might include a teacup and saucer, cake or side plate, teaspoon, cake fork, napkin and drinking glass where required. The aim doesn’t have to be identical place settings. This is vintage china, after all. What matters is that the pieces feel intentionally coordinated so every place looks as though it belongs at the same celebration.
Then Think About the Food
Individual place settings are only half the story. Your sandwiches, savouries, scones and sweets need somewhere to go too. Tiered high tea stands create height while allowing several different foods to sit together without covering every centimetre of table space with flat platters. Shared plates and serving pieces can also be positioned along a larger table so guests can comfortably reach the food. Because nobody should need to negotiate three handbags and somebody’s floral arrangement to get to a scone.
Don’t Forget the Tea Service
The clue is rather firmly in the name. A proper tea service means thinking beyond cups and saucers to teapots, milk jugs, sugar bowls, teaspoons, tea selection, hot water, how pots will be refilled and where the tea service will sit. For a larger celebration, consider how tea will actually move around the room. Will pots sit on the tables? Will there be a separate tea station? Who will refill them? Small decisions like these make a surprisingly big difference once guests arrive.
Give the Table Some Height – But Not Too Much
One of the things people love about high tea is the layered, abundant look. Tiered stands, teapots, serving pieces and flowers create height and draw the eye along the table. The trick is to leave room for the people. If Aunt Susan needs to lean around a three foot floral installation every time she wants to speak to the person opposite, we may have become a little too enthusiastic. Beautiful tables still need to work.
Think About How Guests Will Actually Use the Table
Before deciding what you need, picture the event in motion. Will guests be seated or moving around? Will food sit along the dining table or on a buffet? How will tea be poured and refilled? Do you also need water glasses or stemware or both? Can everyone reach the food comfortably? Where will serving utensils sit? What happens to used plates and cups? This is where a lovely looking collection becomes a lovely experience.
A well planned high tea table doesn’t look as though someone obsessed over every detail. It simply feels as though everything is exactly where it should be.
Vintage Crockery Hire for All Events
DIY is lovely if you enjoy the creative part. It is considerably less lovely if, on the morning of the celebration, you discover you’d actually rather be getting dressed, popping the bubbly or doing almost anything other than unpacking crockery. And sometimes you aren’t planning a high tea at all. That’s why there are other ways to hire from The Vintage Kitchen.
High Tea Set Up
The gorgeous crockery. None of the setting up palaver. Already have the food covered but would prefer someone else to create the table? Our High Tea Set Up Package is designed for customers who want vintage crockery delivered, professionally arranged and packed down afterwards.
Tableware Hire
For the occasions where tea is not actually the main event. Planning a sit down lunch, dinner, wedding meal or another occasion centred around a more traditional place setting? Our Tableware Hire collections provide coordinated plates, cutlery, glassware and serving pieces.
DIY Tableware Packages
Best for the host who loves setting a gorgeous table and is hosting a regular meal, not a high tea. Loved by clients for weddings, birthday and dinner parties.
Piccadilly
$11pp
Min 20 guests
- 1x vintage dinner plate
- 1x vintage side plate
- 1x crystal cut tumbler
- 1x crystal cut wine glass
- 1x silver vintage main knife
- 1x silver vintage main fork
- 1x silver vintage dessert spoon
- Pick up from Normanhurst
- Delivery may be quoted for hires over $500
Most Popular
Notting Hill
$16pp
Min 20 guests
- 1x vintage dinner plate
- 1x vintage entree plate
- 1x vintage side plate
- 1x crystal cut tumbler
- 1x crystal cut wine glass
- 1x crystal cut flute or coupe
- 1x silver vintage main knife
- 1x silver vintage main fork
- 1x silver vintage entree knife
- 1x silver vintage entree fork
- 1x silver vintage dessert spoon
- Pick up from Normanhurst
- Delivery may be quoted for hires over $500
Big Ben
$22pp
Min 20 guests
- 1x vintage dinner plate
- 1x vintage entree plate
- 1x vintage side plate
- 1x vintage cake plate
- 1x crystal cut tumbler
- 1x crystal cut wine glass
- 1x crystal cut flute or coupe
- 1x silver vintage main knife
- 1x silver vintage main fork
- 1x silver vintage entree knife
- 1x silver vintage entree fork
- 1x silver vintage dessert spoon
- silver vintage serving tongs
- assorted vintage teacups (50% of guest numbers)
- silver vintage teaspoon per teacup
- Pick up from Normanhurst
- Delivery may be quoted for hires over $500
Only Need a Few Pieces?
Pick n’ Mix & Fill the Gaps
Sometimes you genuinely don’t need the whole shebang. Perhaps you’ve inherited beautiful china and just need enough teacups for the rest of the guest list. Maybe your venue provides plates but no cake stands. Or perhaps your tables are already planned and you know precisely what’s missing. Our individual crockery hire collection lets you choose specific pieces, subject to availability and the current minimum hire spend of $200
Teacups
Perfect when you already have most of the table sorted but need cups and saucers for the remaining guests — or when the venue’s standard café cups are not quite part of the vision.
Plates
Ideal for adding cake plates, side plates or coordinated dinnerware to a collection you already have.
Serving Dishes
Perfect for self-caterers, other caterers or venues that have the food covered but need additional serving pieces to present it beautifully.
High Tea Stands & Pedestals
Ideal when you already have place settings but need height, serving space and that unmistakable high tea look.
Glassware
Add water crystal cut glasses, stemware or suitable glassware for a little something sparkling alongside the tea.
Drink Accessories
Gorgeous crystal cut drink dispensers and vintage champagne buckets to add an extra pop to your table
High Tea Sets
These are the small pieces people are least likely to put at the top of the planning list, and exactly the pieces everyone notices when they’re missing.
Cutlery
For the small but necessary details such as teaspoons, cake forks and additional cutlery for more formal place settings.
Vintage Props
Extra bits and bobs like vintage books and vases to add extra sparkle to your high tea table.
Finding yourself adding pieces from half the categories above? Have a quick look at the DIY packages before you continue. A complete collection may be considerably simpler.
And If You’re Starting to Rethink Those Finger Sandwiches…
The Pinterest board looks fabulous. The crockery is sorted. The guest list is growing nicely. And somebody quietly realises: “Wait. Who is actually making all the food?” You are absolutely welcome to self-cater, use another caterer, or let your venue provide the food, you do not need to book catering to hire vintage crockery from The Vintage Kitchen. But if you’d quite like someone else to handle the sandwiches, savouries, scones and petite sweets, we also provide high tea catering across Sydney. Our catering options are designed specifically for high tea and can combine beautifully prepared food, vintage crockery and different levels of practical support depending on the package you choose.
Less time assembling sandwiches. More time assembling your outfit.
Why Choose The Vintage Kitchen?
We Curate. You Celebrate.
More Than 20 Years of Knowing What Works
We’ve spent more than two decades creating high tea celebrations across Sydney. Over that time, we’ve learnt that it’s often the less glamorous details that make an event feel easy. Enough serving pieces. A sensible tea service. Crockery quantities that work for the guest numbers. A table that looks layered without becoming cluttered. Experience isn’t about making you listen to everything we know. It’s about using what we know so you have less to think about.
Vintage That Feels Curated, Not Random
The Vintage Kitchen’s collection has been built over many years to create tables with warmth, charm and personality. A vintage table doesn’t have to match perfectly. In fact, we’d rather it didn’t. But the colours, patterns, shapes and serving pieces should feel as though they belong in the same story. That’s what turns a collection of beautiful individual pieces into a beautiful table.
Help That Suits the Way You Want to Host
Want to collect the crockery and style everything yourself? Lovely. Want it delivered and set up? There’s an option for that too. Only need a handful of pieces? No problem. The goal isn’t to convince you to book the largest possible package. The goal is to make the right option easy to recognise.
Real Tables For Real Celebrations
You shouldn’t have to imagine how the crockery might look once it’s surrounded by food, flowers, napkins, chairs and actual humans. Our galleries show genuine events in real Sydney homes and venues. That’s important. Because the question isn’t really: “Is this teacup pretty?” It’s: “Can this help create the kind of celebration I have in my head?”
Taking the Stress Out of Hosting Your High Tea
Creating a gorgeous high tea is not about owning hundreds of vintage pieces. It’s about having the right pieces for one important day. We’ve already spent years collecting the china, curating collections and learning what a successful high tea table needs. You don’t have to. You don’t need to build a hire list from scratch. You don’t need to know the correct terminology for every piece. And you definitely don’t need to buy thirty teacups you’ll still be storing in the garage decades from now. That’s the real value of vintage crockery hire. Not more things. Less to think about.
A well planned high tea table doesn’t look as though someone obsessed over every detail. It simply feels as though everything is exactly where it should be.
Find the Right Fit for Your Celebration
Vintage crockery looks different depending on the celebration. Soft florals and delicate patterns feel wonderfully at home at a baby shower. Colourful mismatched china brings personality to a birthday or garden celebration. Beautifully coordinated tableware gives a wedding or corporate event character without making it feel overly themed. The crockery may be the same collection. The celebration never is. Explore how to plan the high tea that suits yours.
Bridal Shower
Vintage crockery hire that turns a bridal shower table into something worth photographing, from delicate teacups to coordinated cake stands.
Baby Shower
The soft pastels and delicate patterns from our vintage crockery hire collection are perfectly suited to a warm and gentle baby shower table.
Birthday Party
Colourful, mismatched vintage crockery hire that brings personality to a milestone birthday without ever feeling matched or corporate.
Wedding
Coordinated vintage crockery hire that gives a wedding or reception table real character, without defaulting to the expected white china.
Kind Words From Our Hosts
A beautiful table matters. A straightforward hire experience matters just as much. The most useful reviews aren’t simply the ones that say the crockery looked lovely. They’re the ones that tell you what it felt like to organise the event, whether the advice was helpful, communication was clear and everything worked the way it was supposed to.
“We celebrated my Mum’s 100th birthday last weekend and we were fortunate to have Hayley from The Vintage Kitchen catering. She was absolutely amazing from setting up to clearing up. The tables looked fabulous and the food was so good. Everyone was so happy and Mum was thrilled. A week after the event and Mum is still talking about Hayley, the angel. Mum said she wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you so much Hayley.”
Trisha
“I booked Vintage Kitchen for my daughter’s Bridal Shower. Hayley was amazing. She supplied all the food and crockery, then set the tables to transform our home into a fairyland. It truly looked so elegant and pretty. My daughter was delighted with the outcome. She could not take the smile off her face all day. Thank you Hayley and congratulations on your business.”
Francene
Vintage Crockery Hire FAQ
These are the questions Sydney hosts most often ask before booking their high tea catering package. Detailed package terms and the final personalised quote always take precedence where event requirements differ.
Vintage crockery hire allows you to use our vintage tableware for your event without purchasing and storing the pieces yourself. At The Vintage Kitchen, this may include teacups and saucers, plates, cake stands, teapots, cutlery, glassware and serving pieces, depending on the package or individual hire items selected. Crockery may be hired independently of catering.
If you’re creating a complete high tea table yourself, a DIY High Tea Package is usually the easiest starting point because the key crockery has already been considered as a collection. Choose the High Tea Set Up Package if you’d prefer delivery and professional setup. Choose Dinnerware Hire for a sit down lunch or dinner. Choose Individual Hire when you already have most of your tableware and only need particular pieces.
The exact inclusions vary between the three DIY collections. Each is designed to provide a coordinated selection of crockery and serving pieces for a high tea table. Current inclusions, guest minimums and pricing are shown on the package pages and confirmed in your quote.
For a complete high tea table, a package is usually easier. It reduces the number of individual hire decisions and brings place settings and shared serving pieces together in one collection. Individual hire is generally better when you already own or have access to part of the tableware and simply need to fill gaps. We do have a minimum spend of $200 for individual piece hires.
Customisation and additions depend on the package and current availability.
Extra cake stands, teapots, glassware, serving pieces or other crockery are be available to add as extras and you may switch out items like for like i.e. an extra knife instead of a dessert spoon or a wine glass in place of a flute. The package price will not be reduced simply because you do not require a particular item, in this instance we will do our best to swap the item for something of equal value where available.
Yes. Individual vintage crockery can be hired separately for customers who only need particular items, subject to availability and the minimum hire spend of $200.
Yes, individual teacups, cake stands and other selected items can be hired separately where available and subject to the minimum hire spend. This is particularly useful when you already own part of your tableware or your venue supplies some pieces but not others.
Our crockery hire packages do not include delivery as standard. For hires over $500, you may add delivery within 20kms of Normanhurst. Delivery fees start at $180. Otherwise you are welcome to collect from us at Normanhurst free of charge. If you require delivery, let us know your event suburb and we’ll confirm the available options and any charges when quoting.
For weekend events our DIY hires can be collected any time from 8am on Friday and must be returned by 1pm on Monday. Weekday hires are from 8am the day prior to 1pm the following day. Hires for Friday events must be returned by 1pm Monday.
Absolutely. Our DIY crockery hire is available independently of our catering service.
You can self-cater, use another caterer or use food supplied by your venue. If you decide you’d rather hand over the food as well, our High Tea Catering options are available separately.
Of course. If another caterer or venue is providing the food, check exactly which serving pieces and tableware they include before finalising your crockery hire booking. This prevents unnecessary duplication and makes it easier to identify what you genuinely need.
Yes. The Vintage Kitchen also offers High Tea Catering, with selected catering packages combining food, coordinated vintage crockery and different levels of service. If you’re unsure whether standalone hire or a catering package makes more sense, tell us what you’re planning and we’ll point you towards the appropriate option.
Yes, a High Tea Set Up service is available for customers wanting a more hands-off crockery option.
Begin with your guest numbers and how the food and tea will be served. Each guest needs the relevant place setting pieces, while items such as teapots, cake stands and serving platters are generally shared.
If you’re creating a complete high tea table, choosing a package removes much of that calculation because the collection has already been structured around the event.
As soon as your date is confirmed is ideal, particularly for weekends and popular celebration periods. Last minute enquiries are still welcome and availability can be checked at the time
Yes you will need to thoroughly wash and dry your hire and return it in the same clean/dry condition as received in. Our DIY crockery hire packages do not include washing up as standard. If you need us to take care of the washing up you will need to discard any liquids, rinse and pack back into the boxes received in. A fee of 25% of the hire cost will be charged for washing. Please advise if you require this service at the time of booking. Unwashed hires that have not been pre-charged will forfeit the bond paid.
Your DIY crockery hire will be packed securely in plastic tubs that have been purchased specifically for each item and wrapped in bubble wrap. We recommend taking a photo of the boxes before they are unpacked so that you remember where everything goes when it comes time to pack up.
Everything You Need to Celebrate Beautifully
Maybe you want a complete vintage crockery collection you can style yourself. Maybe you’d rather arrive to find the table already set. Maybe your venue has nearly everything sorted and you simply need the pieces that will make it feel like your celebration. Whatever you’re planning, we’ll help you choose the vintage crockery hire option that makes the most sense. Tell us your date, suburb, approximate guest numbers and how much of the table you already have sorted.
We’ll help with the rest.